Letting the Past Go
by Oblivion-Reborn
Summary: They never thought they would cross paths again after their fight at Memory's Skyscrapers, but here they stood, face to face; one struggling with the guilt of what he had done, the other struggling with feelings of resentment, could two so different really become friends? Post KH3. Riku and Roxas


**Hello! I am proud to share my first work of fiction on this site! I had a blast writing this fic and look forward to writing more! Now, onward to the actual story!**

* * *

The waves gently battered the shore, going back and force, giving off a peaceful sound as the sun disappeared for the night.

Riku walked along, handing out pillows and blankets, and making sure that everyone was settled for the night. They had decided to camp out on the island before returning to the mainland in the morning, and he, along with Terra, had been chosen as the leaders for the little home-away-from-home trip.

Riku and Terra crossed paths, with Terra headed towards Donald, Goofy, and Kairi, while Riku headed towards Xion and Axel to offer them some pillows and blankets. Once he reached his destination, he gave a quick "hi." and held out four blankets and pillows, which Xion gratefully took and handed a blanket and a pillow to Axel, mouthing a "thank you", before lying down next to Axel with her own and putting the rest to the side.

Riku noticed that two people was missing, "Where are Roxas and Isa?"

"I believe Roxas said that he needed a bit of time to himself." Axel replied with a yawn, "Isa decided to camp on his own, he still isn't used to being around "normal" people, so best we just give him his space."

Riku tilted his head, "I wonder why." He said out loud, deciding to drop the question of Isa's whereabouts from the conversation.

"I saw Roxas heading in the direction of the paopu tree." Xion added on, "Are you worried about him?"

Riku had to think about his answer carefully, it was no lie that Roxas seemed to be avoiding him; in fact, Roxas had been glaring at him on the trip down to the islands quite frequently, so he wasn't really sure if he could answer that, so he just settled for the easy answer, "I don't think it's my place to answer considering I don't really know him just yet."

Xion looked at him and then nodded, "Make sense."

"I'm sure he will be fine." Axel said with a smile, trying to reassure them both.

Xion just nodded in response.

"I will be on my way then, got to go and speak with Terra before I can call it a night." Riku said, then turned around, "I will see you guys later." He said with a wave before walking away, a secret objective in his mind.

Xion and Axel watched him go, then Xion turned to Axel and said, "Are you sure we shouldn't go and make sure Roxas is OK?"

Axel shook his head, "No. Besides, I have a feeling that Riku has plans for Roxas, even though I am not sure how Roxas will take it."

* * *

Riku made his way towards the paopu tree silently, a million questions going through his mind, the main one being, "is this really such a good idea?" Truthfully, he thought it was a bad idea; he and Roxas weren't exactly on friendly terms after all, and the younger male might retreat or snap if pushed into a corner. He suddenly stopped thinking about "what ifs" as he caught sight of a certain blond sitting on the paopu tree, gazing out towards the ocean.

Riku looked down and took a deep breath, then he approached the tree and said, "Beautiful, isn't it? This is my favorite part of the entire island."

Roxas leaped off the tree and stared at Riku, "Can I help you?" He asked as he turned to face Riku, not hiding the fact that he was annoyed about the fact that he had just been disturbed.

Riku tilted his head, "Xion and Axel were wondering where you were."

Roxas narrowed his eyes, "Sure."

"You sound like you don't believe me." Riku pointed out.

"I don't." Roxas snapped.

Riku just sighed, "Well, you certainly catch on fast, don't ya? Axel said you would be fine and Xion just agreed."

Roxas snorted, "Like I wouldn't know my own best friends."

"What's your problem anyway?" Riku asked, "You and I seemed to mostly get along during the trip here and during the evening's events; heck, you even raced with Terra and I."

"And?" Roxas asked, "I just joined in because I felt like it."

"If you say so." Riku added quietly, not wishing to escalate the conversation into an argument.

Roxas watched him for a minute and then sighed, before turning around and sitting back down on the tree, Riku joining him after a minute or so, causing Roxas to flinch and shift over a bit.

"Relax." Riku said calmly, studying Roxas's face, "I just want to talk."

Roxas stared at Riku, not sure how to take the invasion of his personally space like this, especially by one of the people he hated the most.

"So," Riku started, "How goes life?"

"Good." Roxas simply answered, looking down.

Riku sighed, "Hey, I know we didn't have the best start, but is there any chance that we could start fresh?"

Roxas stayed silent.

"I will take that as a no." Riku said in a defeated tone, "I guess I deserve it after what I put you through."

Roxas looked at Riku, "Truthfully, I am insanely uncomfortable with you invading my personal space like this."

"I can understand that." Riku replied calmly.

"Then why do you do so?" Roxas asked, a slight snarl in his tone.

"I dunno, " Riku said and leaned back, "I guess you just… interest me a bit."

"How so?"

Riku gave a small chuckle, "For one I never thought that I could ever get you to open up to me, even just a little bit, but here you are, actually making conversation, even though your side is more or less you just wanting to bite my head off."

"You're right there," Roxas snorted, "I do want to take your head off."

Riku dared to ask, "And what is your reason for that?"

Roxas couldn't help but laugh a bit in a dark sense of humor, "The fact that you kidnapped me."

"Is that really still bothering you?" Riku asked.

"What do you think? You took my life away!" Roxas snapped, voice starting to climb, "You let that freak put me into a virtual version of Twilight Town and made me live a lie, just so I could be used to awaken Sora!"

"I didn't have much of a choice." Riku said calmly, trying to keep his voice low, "I would have done anything to wake my best friend up."

"At the cost of my own life and everyone I loved!"

Riku rubbed his temple, choosing his next words carefully, "I don't fault you for how you are reacting to me, but the Organization would have destroyed you! At least by being absorbed into Sora we still had a chance of saving you and everyone else that was in his heart and putting a stop to the Organization."

"Which was only a chance, which ended up working in our favour! Have you got any idea how terrifying it is to suddenly see nothing but darkness as you slowly lose yourself?" Roxas snarled, not really thinking about what he was saying, but the look that Riku gave him made him feel that maybe he should have put some thought into it.

"I do, actually." Riku snapped, standing up to stand over Roxas, "I gave my heart to darkness due to my own jealously and hatred, so don't you dare lecture me on the subject!"

"Riku…." Roxas started.

"Don't "Riku" me, Roxas!" Riku scolded, "You saw quite clearly what happened during our fight and how I gave into the dark power to defeat you, so don't even think about coming up with some excuse of "I had no idea", as I used that same dark power on you!"

Roxas couldn't believe it when he felt a shiver going down his spine, Riku's outburst taking him by surprise and, to an extent, scared him; Riku was known for his cool headed approach to problems, so the fact that this powerful, calm man, just snapped at him so severally scared him into a recoil.

Riku's eyes softened upon seeing Roxas's reaction and he sat down, "Listen, I didn't mean to scare you or come across as angry, I'm just… stressed; Sora's disappearance is playing heavily on my mind currently."

Roxas regained his composure and looked down, "I'm… I'm… just trying to deal with everything that has happened lately; one minute I am in Sora's heart, the next I am at my friends' side as we faced down Saix, now I am at this island and I am still struggling to get used to it all."

There was sympathy in Riku's eyes, "I can imagine that, but I also look into your eyes and I see that there are a lot more behind them than you are letting onto."

Roxas looked up and studied Riku's face, "There is."

"Is that why you are avoiding us?" Riku asked, honestly just really curious at this point.

To Riku's surprise there were tears running down Roxas's face, "I can't even look at Xion currently." He muttered.

"And why is that?" Riku asked gently, hoping to get the boy to open up to him, even just a little bit.

Roxas began to visibly tremble, "I.. I killed her! I am a murderer! IF IT WASN'T FOR ME XION WOULD NOT HAVE DIED"

Riku suddenly felt like a complete jerk, he never would have guessed that, behind that wall of toughness, that the child before him would consider himself a murderer, and he wisely decided not to press any further on the matter, he just hated the fact that he had never considered that Roxas was suffering in silence like he was.

"Roxas, you are not a murderer!" Riku started, "I won't press you for details, but…"

"She came to the Clock Tower one day and made me fight her!" Roxas blurted out before Riku could finish, "I should have just refused!"

"And then what? Just stand there and let her take you apart?" Riku questioned, "If she forced you into a fight it would have been self-defence, you can't blame yourself for what happened!"

Roxas looked at Riku with tears in his eyes, "I would have thought of something!"

"You're in denial, Roxas; in these kinds of situations there are no winners, only losers, and you can't let this moment in your life take such a hold over you, especially when people care about you and worry about you when you distance yourself like this."

"You seem to be wise on the subject." Roxas mumbled.

Riku gave a small smile, "I had good teachers."

Roxas just looked down, while Riku stared out towards the ocean, humming a tune and thinking, stealing a glance occasionally at the blond, then suddenly thought of something.

"Listen," Riku said standing, "I need to head back to the others and make sure they are all settled and happy, but I would like to first offer you a chance of friendship… and… offer to be there for you whenever you need me."

Roxas's head shot up, "What?"

Riku chuckled, "I was always a big brother figure to Sora and I would love to offer you the same, if you would allow me."

Roxas closed his eyes and thought about it for a minute, "I would like to work towards it, but I feel that it is a bit too soon to make such a big leap."

Riku just smiled, "I understand, do you need anything before I go?"

"No." Roxas replied quickly, a hint of a smile on his face.

"I understand. Goodnight." Riku said with a wave and then started to walk away, secretly hoping that Roxas would follow him.

"Wait!" Roxas leaped off the tree and rushed to Riku's side.

Riku turned to look at him and smiled, "What is it?"

"Thank you… for the talk, it helped me a bit." Roxas said shyly.

Riku chuckled, "Any time." He then started to walk away again, Roxas watching him go.

* * *

A little while later, Roxas returned to Xion and Axel, who had been joined by a sleepy Isa, and all four settled down for the night, watching the stars in the sky as they all began to doze off.

Xion and Roxas both cuddled up to Axel, who put his arms around them, with Isa looking at them, debating if he wanted to join in or not, but decided not to; he wasn't a cuddly person after all, and he felt that it wouldn't go down well with Roxas.

Roxas just gazed off to the direction of where he had seen Riku go off towards, and he could have sworn that he could see a pair of turquoise eyes in the distance looking at him, causing a small smile to cross his lips as he finally gave in to sleep.

It wouldn't be easy, but one thing he now knew for sure, was that he had found a friend in Riku.

* * *

**Thank you for taking the time to read this; as I said before I had a lot of fun working on this and I look forward to writing more! Feel free to leave criticism, I am always eager to learn! I am still a beginner and I would love to grow my writing into something more.**

**I hope the characters actually remained in character, as I had quite a hard time writing Riku due to his usual calm personality; I intend to explore these two in another fanfiction at a later time, but that is for another time. I also intend to work more on pacing as I feel that the ending may have been a bit rushed.**


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